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I'm an Irish Girl, A Dubliner, with the 'Gift of the Gab' ... I like to talk & to tell you things. In Celtic times news, views and comment were carried from place to place by wandering Seanachaí ~ Storytellers ~ who relied on their host's hospitality and appreciation. I will need that from you too, as I venture to share Politics, Poetry, Laughter, Love, Life & everything in-between ... from Bog to Blog!!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

How the NGO's Stole Christmas !!!

The Christmas season is being exploited by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to advance anti-peace agendas and to delegitimize Israel, says NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based research institution. By manipulating traditional christmas songs, images, and messages, NGOs such as Sabeel, War on Want (UK), Amos Trust, and Adalah-NY continue to demonize Israel with crude, anti-semitic rhetoric.

“These NGOs have hijacked Christmas to promote their extremely divisive boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) and demonization campaigns,” says Prof. Gerald Steinberg, President of NGO Monitor. “Manipulating religious symbols and images in this manner is deeply offensive, and clearly does not foster an environment of coexistence among Israelis and Palestinians. These NGOs are pursuing hate-filled agendas.”

This is especially true of church groups who have totally manipulated the christmas spirit to Delegitimize Israel & to promote BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) against Israel.

Friends of Sabeel (Detroit) is selling christmas cards as a “fundraiser in support of Friend of Sabeel - North America,” one of which implies the destruction of the Jewish state by depicting a map of Israel, the 'West Bank', and Gaza as one territory filled in with the phrase “The Empire will not last!”

Adalah-NY held its annual “Anti-Apartheid Holiday Caroling” on December 17th, 2011 in front of a New York Jewellery store owned by Israeli businessman Lev Leviev. The protest is part of Adalah-NY’s campaign targeting Leviev because he is an Israeli, and they invited activists to sing awkward and offensive versions of traditional holiday songs. This year, the event was held in conjunction with Code Pink, whose Stolen Beauty campaign targets the Israeli company Ahava. In their lyrics, the NGOs use the “Ethnic cleansing and apartheid” blood libels, and chanted “Selling beauty creams, / Blood mixed in with mud” other inflammatory lyrics include “That beauty cream you bought her / Makes her soul disappear.”

UK-based Amos Trust is advertising its annual Bethlehem Pack, “a resource to help churches talk about the current situation in Bethlehem at carol services and christmas events.” Exploiting charged theological images to attack Israel, this text proclaims: “If J-sus was born today in Bethlehem, the Wise Men would spend several hours queuing to enter the town” and “If J-sus was born today in Bethlehem, much of the shepherds’ fields would have been confiscated for illegal Israeli settlements.”

“Linking the suffering of palestinians to christian themes revives traditional and deep seated anti-semitic theology,” Steinberg adds. “By employing these tactics, and grossly misrepresenting a complicated conflict, these NGOs are making peace more difficult to achieve.”

Sydney’s Coalition for palestine sang carols again referring to the “ethnic cleansing” libel.

Sami Awad, Executive Director of Holy Land Trust, contributes additional demonizing rhetoric to the resource packet .... “No matter where you stand in Bethlehem, you can see the effects of the cold grip of this brutal and humiliating occupation.”

Amos Trust is also publicizing a nativity scene “complete with separation wall,” highlighting the theological theme in its anti-Israel campaigns.

War on Want, which receives British government funding, continues to promote its politicized Christmas cards that depict the security barrier paired with religious Christmas images. This radical NGO also urges supporters to “donate as much as you can afford this christmas” to “Help stop bulldozers destroying Palestinian homes.”

As it did last year, the Ireland palestinian Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) is promoting a number of items as “Ideal for Christmas Gifts,” including the book “Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner’s Guide.” IPSC is also selling its own Christmas cards with a depiction of the three wise men at the security barrier, claiming that “Their path would be blocked by Israel’s Apartheid Wall and it’s doubtful if they would be allowed through the checkpoints.”

In messages during the holiday season, Christian organizations Kairos palestine and Sabeel employ religious themes, recalling a long history of antisemitic theology.

The Bethlehem Call, a document published by Kairos palestine following its December 2011 conference, accuses Israel of “systematic ethnic cleansing and the geo-cide of palestinians.” In this Call, Kairos palestine, which has previously used religious language to deny the Jewish historical connection to Israel and to advance BDS campaigns, wrote .... “The severity of the Palestinian situation makes comparisons with apartheid in South Africa superfluous and almost irrelevant.” It also exploits religious themes to demonize Israel, attesting that “G-d does not take kindly to injustice and the perpetrators of injustice.” The authors also “reject calls to cease advocating and practising BDS.”

Several church groups, including the United Church of chr-st, christian Church (Disciples of chr-st), and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, promoted Kairos-Palestinian’s Bethlehem Call on their websites and blogs.

In Sabeel’s annual Christmas message, Naim Ateek accused Israel of attempting to “eliminate the palestinians, denying their political rights, and stripping them of their human dignity and land.”

1 comment:

Hmmm, this post is hypocritical, seeing as how a blog that you put in your recommended reading does exactly the same thing - using a Christmas card with a rewritten classic to promote its own agenda. http://9-11domorethenneverforget-stopislam.blogspot.com/2011/11/our-first-e-christmas-card-of-season.html

Tweetie Bird!!

MITZVAH MUSIC !!!!!!!

About Me .....

I'm Irish & Jewish & passionately Zionist. Travelling & trying new things excites me. I Read. Torah, Fantasy Fiction, Mythology & History & I Appreciate Art in all it's forms ~ Pre Raphaelite is my favourite. I Adore All things Gothic, Movies, Medieval & Victorian Poetry, Photography. Surrounded by Sounds I Cook, Bake, Knit, Sew, Pretend to complete my Phd & Crave Chocolate!!!
I've always been a Dreamer. My first fantasy encounter was 'The Wizard of Oz 'movie when I was a tiny (tinier) girl ... when Dorothy walked out of that Tornado Tossed house and into multi-coloured Munchkin land, it left a lasting impression.
I'm a fan of Medieval History, Literature & Mythology, with its vast underpinnings of the past, of tales left over from the beginning of the world, luminous heroes and sages, prophecies, wonders, destinies and dooms and that magical realm across the sea where dying heroes go to dwell. This treasure of image, myth, magic, & language, an older age when such wonders as Magic Rings and Dragons existed is my Universe. Faery is my Forte ~ Dark & Delicate my Delight!